Month: January 2018

While the Broncos probably don’t have their quarterback of the future on the roster, Osweiler at least gives them the best chance to win over the final weeks of the 2017 season.

Frank Gore’s twilight seasons are being wasted — Gore ran for 31 yards on 10 carries and had three receptions for 37 yards before exiting with a knee injury. He went over 1,000 yards from scrimmage for the 12th straight year to join Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith as the only players in NFL history to accomplish such a feat.

Gore, who is fifth all-time in rushing yards, will eventually join Smith in Canton. He left the 49ers in 2015 after 10 seasons to join the Colts, where he thought he’d have a shot to win a championship playing with quarterback Andrew Luck. But Luck has battled injuries since 2015 and hasn’t played at all this season and the final seasons of Gore’s career are being wasted in Indianapolis.

The Colts also lost several other players with injuries. Offensive tackle Denzelle Good (knee), linebackers Jeremiah George (neck) and Jon Bostic (knee) also left Thursday’s game.

In mid-June, Cleveland explored a three-team trade with both Phoenix and Indiana that would have sent Irving and Channing Frye to the Suns and brought Eric Bledsoe and Paul George to Cleveland, according to MacMullan. The Suns didn’t want to move the No. 4-overall pick that they eventually used on Josh Jackson, so nothing materialized further.

But James and Bledsoe are good friends and share the same agent — James’ childhood friend, Rich Paul. Because of that Irving, according to MacMullan, suspected it was James who orchestrated the trade talks.

The Cavaliers say it was former general manager David Griffin who began talks with Phoenix and Indiana, but according to MacMullan, Cleveland explored three-team trade talks — presumably including Irving — with Indiana and Denver shortly after Griffin’s contract expired.

Those reported explorative talks weren’t included in the reports that New Nike NFL Jerseys surfaced one week after Irving requested in late July, but the all-star guard stayed silent Wholesale NFL Jerseys China because “he knew the truth and so did they.”

Kopitar, Brown and former Minnesota-Duluth scorer Alex Iafallo have spent the second most minutes together of any line in the NHL (389) and produced a 52.0 percent shot-attempt differential and 17-12 scoring advantage. Iafallo went undrafted, and had a huge senior campaign in college, with 51 points in 42 games in 2016-17. His presence on the top line has allowed Stevens to move other skilled players down the lineup.

Recently, Tanner Pearson has moved up to the top line. He and Kopitar have a 56.1 percent Corsi for percentage in 89 minutes. Kopitar and Brown’s chemistry gives the head coach flexibility at the left wing spot on the top line.

While the Kings’ top line has high shooting and on-ice save percentages, Kopitar’s numbers reflect much more of a return to excellence rather than an anomaly. And that’s good news for Los Angeles’s chances of returning to prominence in the West.

The 29th overall selection in the 2014 draft, Adrian Kempe has blossomed into a useful, middle-six player this season for the Kings. Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles’s system has not created another superstar at the level of Kopitar or Drew Doughty in recent years, but several young players have developed into solid middle-six players, giving the Kings some bite when Kopitar’s line is off the ice.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are without a doubt way worse without Andre Roberson, and a 114-100 loss to one of the league’s worst teams, the Phoenix Suns, showed exactly why.

The Suns wings went off at home, with Devin Booker scoring 26 points on 17 shots, rookie Josh Jackson going off for 17 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists and T.J. Warren adding 23 points on 15 shots. Roberson’s absence allowed the Suns space to shoot over rookie Terrance Ferguson, Jerami Grant, and nobody else was able to help on the drive. Booker had 12 free-throw attempts himself.

Two weeks before he joined the Eagles, Ajayi ran for 130 yards in Miami’s 20-17 win over Atlanta on Oct. 15. He hasn’t carried the ball as much in Philadelphia, but he might have to be a workhorse this week.

The Eagles are the first No. 1 seed to be an underdog in their first playoff game. The sixth-seeded Falcons are 3-point favorites.

“It’s not insulting. That’s the story line right now,” Ajayi said . “Without 11 (Carson Wentz), we’re nothing basically. That’s what we’ve been hearing. We’re excited to come out Saturday and showcase what we can do.”

It’s starts with getting aboard the Jay Train. Ajayi loves the nickname Baseball Jerseys Cheap that Baseball Jerseys he earned at Boise State. He even wears a gold train pendant on his chain.

The Giants have been around for 93 years, and until this season they had never lost 13 games, much less 14. As uninspiring as Washington was on Thanksgiving night in NFL Jerseys 2016 Landover, on that brown, patchy field, they still managed to beat the Giants. It’s sure to be the last game in a Giants uniform for several key players, while it might be the last in a Washington uniform for Kirk Cousins, who apparently isn’t their long-term solution despite being 65 yards from a third straight 4,000-yard season.

Twice in Jim Caldwell’s four seasons in Detroit, this season-ending game decided the NFC North title. The Packers won both, but this one means nothing but bragging rights, if the players are even thinking that. Caldwell is once again on the hot seat, and the Packers were shut out last week for the second time this season, both without Aaron Rodgers.

Yes, under better circumstances, this could have been Deshaun Watson against Andrew Luck with something tangible on the line in the AFC South. Now it’s about who will drag the bottom, and whose quarterback (T.J. Yates, Jacoby Brissett) will take the worst beating. DeAndre Hopkins and T.Y. Hilton might want to go fishing together somewhere in the offseason and compare notes on whose career is being wasted worse.

When John Wall left Adidas, it felt like there was no turning back. He’d turned down a $66 million offer that, on the surface, seemed like it was a solid deal for the Wizards’ All-Star point guard. But things soured, and Wall walked away from the deal.

So when Wall signed a five-year deal to return to the brand he spurned two years ago, it turned a lot of heads. Wall had been in talks with plenty of brands in between their Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap time apart and had almost exclusively worn Nike shoes while he was a free agent.

“To me, I banked on myself to have a season like this. To be honest, I banked on myself. I just feel like somebody is gonna come,” Wall said. “If not, I will still be a sneaker free agent. I feel like with the way I’m playing, the type of image I have, the character I have, how I interact with the fans in the community, I think I’m the perfect guy for a signature shoe.”

As an in-demand assistant, Smart spurned several opportunities — often on Saban’s advice — to wait for the right job. When former Georgia coach Mark Richt went shopping for a new defensive coordinator in January 2014, he naturally targeted Smart, a former Bulldogs defensive back.

When Smart informed Saban that he was considering an offer to return to his alma mater, Saban’s message was pretty clear: Why would you go back there for anything other than the head-coaching position?

“I think sometimes guys get a little too enamored with titles,” Saban said. “I think the most important thing is: Can you win? Are you going to win? Do you have stability and the opportunity to do that in whatever job you’re in?”

Smart decided to remain at Alabama, where he would become the highest-paid coordinator in the FBS with an annual salary of $1.5 million. When Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity fired Richt after the 2015 season, he quickly zeroed in on Smart to replace him.

“Sometimes the best deals you make are the ones you don’t,” Saban said. “Sometimes things just work out for the best. Guys that stay in places where they have a chance to be successful, I think that’s what helps them get opportunities, more than what [their] title is. I give Kirby a lot of credit for that. He was loyal; he stayed here and did a great job right until the end.”

“We do what we always do. We show up to work and try to do the best we can do,” the All-Pro quarterback says. “We know there’s a lot at stake and I think everyone’s put a lot into it. It doesn’t really matter what happened outside of this facility.”

Tennessee has lost six in a row to New England, but comes off a stirring second-half rally at Kansas City from 18 points down, the largest postseason comeback on the road in Wholesale NFL Jerseys Nike the Super Bowl era.

Pittsburgh lost only once after that, at home to the Patriots in a game that Cheap MLB Jerseys decided the AFC’s top seed.

It would not be wise, though, for Tomlin to gamble his Super Bowl plans on such an underdog.

Who we choose to employ or utilize or activate, we are in the process of Hockey Jerseys discussing, Tomlin said Tuesday. The expectation will be what it is. The people we put on the field will be expected to play and play winning football.

The Steelers have been eliminated from the playoffs the past three seasons without at least one of their elite offensive weapons being available to participate.

— In 2014, running back Le’Veon Bell suffered a hyperextended left knee in the final game of the regular season, a game the Steelers had to win to secure the division championship, on a low hit by Bengals safety Reggie Nelson. The Steelers lost to the Ravens in the playoffs.

— In 2015, Bell was lost on the first Sunday in November when he injured his knee on a hit by Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict and did not return for the rest of the regular season. The Steelers won a playoff game in Cincinnati, but wide receiver Antonio Brown was left with a concussion after a blow to the head by Burfict and was unavailable for a road playoff game against Denver. The Steelers lost that one when reserve running back Fitz Toussaint fumbled late in the game, fueling a Broncos comeback.

Taurean Prince, Atlanta Hawks (35.2 percent): It’s become a ritual to include Prince in this column. The market simply isn’t appreciating the sum of his statistical slash. Over the past 15 days, Prince ranks 11th on the Player Rater among small forwards. At the risk of sounding righteous, the fantasy public often values scoring too much, with defensive versatility or a balanced floor game sometimes flying under the radar. Maybe the market will appreciate Prince now that he posted 30 points in Toronto recently or after his consecutive double-double performances.

Bogdan Bogdanovic, Sacramento Kings (5.7 percent): Delving deeper at the wing, we find Sacramento’s exciting rookie shooter currently enjoying a hot stretch from beyond the arc (he’s hit half of his 3-point attempts over the past five games). As the Kings reshuffle the rotation, Bogdanovic has remained a consistent perimeter player for Sacramento, as he’s sneakily providing value in steals and shooting efficiency for those in deeper leagues.